Ralph Heathcote Tatham was born in 1867. He was the third son of Robert Bristow Tatham, He was a member of the Town Council in Durban in 1900. He made a fortune, probably by buying and selling lend in Durban after the Anglo-Boer War. He owned Starborough Castle in England and lived there for some time between the years 1900 and 1907. He had bad luck on the Stock Exchange in London and returned to Natal, where he was member of Natal Parliament 1907/1908. Some items of furniture, paintings and silver etc from Starborough Castle are still in the possession of his descendants. He joined and partly led the Rebellion on the Rand in 1914 - much to the embarrassment of his family! He died in Cape Town in 1927. [TFSA]

Then I fell in love with my dear wife who I met at a Ball. She was very pretty and the sister in law of a Sugar Planter here (her brothers were also planters) - The family objected for which I cared nothing. I had her consent, and as I did not want anything more, I obtained a licence, took out to their farm a led horse with a ladies saddle, put my dear girl on the horse, mounted my own, took off my hat to the brothers etc. and rode off to the nearest church (where by the bye I had taken the clergyman) and was married! - This I have found was the one bright, amongst the many foolish things I have been guilty of. [Robert Bristow Tatham, letter 20 Oct 1879]